Selene
Selene is a European vampire city found north-north-west of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, formerly in Hungary. Location It can be reached from Semlin (today Zemun), either by horse or on foot, following the old Austro-Hungarian military road along the Danube, leading to Peterswarden (or Petervaradin). Certain equipment must be assemble in Zemun before the journey; a bag of coal; a small burner; a few flasks of smelling-salts and candles. A Magyar surgeon and a sharp iron stake are also necessary. It is best to leave Zemun towards ten in the morning. Some three-quarters of a mile along the road, the landscape changes abruptly. The oleander, the ferns and even the wheat starts to fade. The ground, at first green and soft, becomes dull and dark as if a rain of ashes had fallen upon it. The sky turns grey and a melancholic cloud covers the sun. The traveller will feel weak in the knees, a dizziness in the head and a mysterious weight on his chest. Suddenly darkness surrounds him. A distant bell tolls twenty-three times. The darkness fades and Selene appears. Appearance The traveller will suddenly find himself in the very centre of the city, in front of a large circular palace built in several different architectural styles, mingling ancient Assyrian motifs, Chinese fantasies and intricate Indian designs in a startling but accomplished combination. This palace, somewhat reminiscent of the biblical Tower of Babel, is built of pale porphyry, slightly coloured, a variety known as "green water". Large blocks of this stone, transparent as amber, are fixed together with fine splinters of black marble. The whole is a dazzling succession of columns large and small, of pinnacles, spires, abaci, epistyles and architraves, each part building up to a central pyramid shape, very like a pagoda. Upon one one of the columns stands the stature of a tiger clawing at the heart of a terrified girl. Below, on twenty-four marble pedestals, the statues of twenty-four young women all very beautiful, stand in secret awe of an invisible enemy. These statues rise above a square from which sprawl the streets that divide the city into districts. Each of the districts seem endless, its innumerable palaces and mausoleums continuing deep into the surrounding mists. The palaces belong to vampire nobility and each door bears the name of its owner in bold, black letters. Some of these names are surprisingly familiar and throw a new light on many historical enigmas of the past centuries. Advice in Relation to Vampires After choosing one of the doors, the traveller should at once open one of the flasks of smelling-salts, because there are few smells more pungent than that of a vampire, especially in his own house. Next, the Magyar surgeon should approach the sleeping vampire with care and make a small incision near the vampire's heart. The heart must be extracted with the help of the iron stake and set on the lighted coals in the small burner brought for this purpose. The vampire will howl, but he must not be heeded; he will eventually become a small heap of transparent dust. The ashes of the heart must be collected to serve their purpose later. Ceremony of the Dusk By now, it is probably quite late. A roaring sound is heard, louder and louder. A reddish light falls upon the city, illuminating six stone animals set on high columns at the far end of each street; a serpent, a bat, a spider, a vulture, a falcon and a leech. They will start to move very slowly. A crystal bell tolls the first of the twenty-four chimes in the last hour of the vampire day. The traveller should then run for his life. From all the doors will appear tall men, somewhat effeminate, and thin, pale women with yellowish eyes and dark lips. A blackbird will rise from the flames that have sprouted on top of the pagoda-like building and sing. A far-off drum will start to beat and the bell will toll again. The vampires will try to lay their hands on the traveller who, without fear, must sprinkle them with vampire's heart-ash; the vampires will then explode in a bluish flash. Once the mist surrounding the city is reached, the candles should be lit find the way to find the way out and the road back to Zemun. A good map might be helpful. Category:Pages Category:Places Category:Europe Category:Cities Category:Vampires